Online Marketing

Online marketing deals with business transactions through any online medium (the internet). It can be categorized into seven types:

1. Search engine marketing: It is the paid aspect of online marketing. Marketers subscribe to third-party advertisers to display their requests as advertisements to attract visitors.
2. Content marketing: This type of marketing deals with the development of descriptions about a product. The descriptions are distributed to potential customers to persuade them to purchase the product.
3. Social media marketing: This is the use of social media to sell products. It helps in building a dealer-buyer relationship. In this type of marketing, businesses can interact directly with customers through social media and persuade them to purchase their products.
4. Pay-per-click advertising: This is similar to search engine marketing but not limited to third-party advertisers. Ads are created on other social media platforms, and businesses pay for the ads.
5. Affiliate marketing: This type of marketing is a form of referral. In affiliate marketing, a person helps in promoting another person’s product and gets paid based on a percentage of the profit.
6. Email marketing: This form of marketing is seen as an old method, but it is still effective. Businesses have to collect the email addresses of their potential customers to be able to send them mails about available products or services. The customers then respond, expressing their interest to buy.

The significance of online marketing:

1. Cheaper cost of advertising: Before the emergence of online marketing, advertising was expensive, but online marketing has made it cheaper.
2. Ability to track results: With online marketing, businesses can track the success of their advertising campaigns and make necessary adjustments.

Tools that can be used for online marketing:

1. Email
2. Social media
3. Webinars
4. Video creation

Online marketing, just like traditional marketing, can be highly competitive. This is one of the challenges of online marketing. The competition occurs when there are many companies or individuals selling the same products on the same online platform.

How to go about online marketing:

1. Define what you want to achieve and ensure that it is feasible.
2. Choose a suitable platform that will help you reach your objectives.
3. Collaborate with a group of people who are ready to promote your business and bring customers to you.

To be a successful online marketer, you have to be strategic and purposeful.